I bet this thread has been done 100 times before, but I really wanted to give Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay on "Self-Reliance" a special, special place on this blue cyber place we all know so well. This essay and Michel de Montaigne's selected essays have been two of the books that have most altered and influenced the shape and direction of my life (thus far ;) ). For the serious and inquisitive-minded.

Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis - makes you think and feel. Kafka sees things very differently but can reach people.

Jose Rizal - Noli Me Tangere - he is the legend and national hero of the Philippines, a rebel. If you read this, in either English, Tagalog (filipino) or Spanish versions, you will see that he is a natural writer but very deep, almost too deep! You'd think his memoires are too much to be real, but it was real!!! This book rocks! He kicked ass!

The Diary of Anne Frank - her birthday just passed by recently, and her diary is precious because it's so true, so raw and honest written by a teenage girl who is living in a difficult time. She could easily have been a teen of today.

Shakespeare works like Romeo and Juliet - tragedies!!! I get so annoyed by how something turns out, but this is what Shakespeare does best. It can hurt, but it's beautiful.

Leonardo Da Vinci's artworks are beautiful and very timeless as well as Van Gogh. But what's the deal with these legendary artists/painters being so crazy!?!! :)

Lalitha

06-19-2004, 06:35 AM

Jane Austin - Pride and Prejudice

Hispanica

06-19-2004, 08:20 PM

"Si c'est un homme" Primo Levi... a real story from the Second World War told by a survival from a camp...

You should really try it. It's just AWESOME.....First time I read it was when I was 13, and I could really manage to read, even though my english vocabulary wasn't that good yet.

Ma. Estefania

06-20-2004, 01:06 AM

Jane Austin - Pride and Prejudice

That's also a great one. It didn't reach in me the same level of obsession as Wuthering Heights did, but still a good one. :)

This book will be my theme of monography. I'm excited.

sigmagirl91

06-20-2004, 01:13 AM

Literature-too many to name. I liked "A Brave New World" and "1984". Opposite political stances, but interesting books nonetheless.
Music-R&B and jazz.
Art-modern.

Hispanica

06-20-2004, 01:18 AM

You should really try it. It's just AWESOME.....First time I read it was when I was 13, and I could really manage to read, even though my english vocabulary wasn't that good yet.

Ok then i'll try to read it this summer in Spain... i'll have noithing to do but think about this past years anyways hahaha

Ma. Estefania

06-20-2004, 01:21 AM

:D

Jinx

06-20-2004, 11:38 AM

Anton Chejov: ( i only know the names in spanish or portugese so, sorry) : The room number six, the dogs lady, the black monk..and reall...really?? ALL of this wonderfull storyteller!!!!!!!!!! Thge best short story writer af all times!!!!!!!!! And im not just saying that........I study literature in the university......and still......Chejov is the best short story writter!

Fedor Dostoyevsky: Crimen y castigo (crime and punishment??) Brothers Karamazov, The idiot, Memories of the Undergound...Awesome!!! :worship: writer!! All that i read of him isd impressive.....A must for deep people!!!!

Jorge Luis BORGES: Ficciones: A unique piece of art....all the short stories are like a puzzle of life......,maybe i just could not explain it in spanish :rolleyes:

NIkolai. V.Gogol:Wizard!!!!!!! Memories of a crazy man! The nose... ,etc....really wizard!!!!! or bizarre......i dont know the exact eord in english.........anyway...........awesome!!!!!!!!

Artuhr MIller: :worship: : The death of a sellesman,All the children, View from the bridge, and ALL of his WORK....... I just love his theathre :worship:

Edgar Allan Poe: Awesome storyteller!!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaallll

Ok..Im too tired........its six in the morninig in argentina..... i just got back from the disco.........sorry........another time...... i continue......I just LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE literature...................so much.......that im studing it!!!!!! :D

Vass

06-20-2004, 11:49 AM

I think of everything designed by the arhitect Gaudi as a work og art. I like his Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona.

I don't like classic books much, except for a few not well-known Russian theatre plays.

Sparkz

06-20-2004, 12:55 PM

and my favourite book is a tale of two cities

undomiele

06-21-2004, 04:54 PM

Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge" was the latest fiction book I read that highly impressed me.

Sparkz

06-21-2004, 11:20 PM

I like the "Beach at Trouville" painting by Monet which resides at The National Gallery in London.

Ma. Estefania

06-22-2004, 12:48 AM

Painting: Any Monet painting is just awesome.

michelleg

06-22-2004, 04:28 AM

Literature: Rayuela by Julio Cortazar and everything by both Carl Hiaasen and Kurt Vonnegut. I am also a fan of Borges' Ficciones (such complex and profound writing abilities, a mark of true literary brilliance!)

Art: Saturn Devouring His Child, Goya (I find it especially intriguing that it was a fresco in his dining room.)